Great hotel, car parking is an issue.

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A lovely weekend break in Sheffield

I have just returned from a lovely weekend away at this hotel in Sheffield. I went with my boyfriend for my birthday. This was our first visit to this hotel and to Sheffield. We arrived on the Friday and left Sunday. He booked the advance purchase king deluxe room over the internet, which all went well, and it was paid for straight away.

I think that if you are debating whether to have the Deluxe King or the Leopold King, then I would go with the cheaper, which was the Leopold Double when we booked. I think this for several reasons, although in the Deluxe King you get a king size bed as opposed to the double bed in the other room, the only other things which vary are that in the Deluxe room you get free wireless internet, although this is rather slow and we found it difficult to get a connection, and you get a free leopold gift, which we did not get.

Deluxe King RoomI cannot fault this room it was lovely, nice decor, gorgeous bathroom, all fittings and fixtures working, especially the hairdryer which I thought was very good! It also had an ironing board and iron. The mini fridge came with complimentary water, one still, one fizzy. Also there is room in the fridge to put your own things in which was good, as sometimes in hotels you usually get fridges which are full of their drinks etc which if you move you get charge for! So this was a bonus point for this hotel. The bed was very comfy, with lots of pillows, and cosy, warm duvet.The air conditioning worked well and our room was kept nice and warm throughout our stay.The bathroom was very nice and sleek. Towel radiator, good bath, the shower was OK, it was one where there is only one hole for the water to come out and not lots of little ones, it was still good and did the job!A nice large TV with freeview channels, including the bbc1/2/3, itv1/2, channel 4/e4/more4, sky news/sports news. You can access the internet through the TV which comes at a charge, also for a charge there are a good selection of movies, prices ranged from £3.99- around £7.99.We didnt have any room service, so I cant comment on this but prices ranged from around £8.99ish for meals.The view was a white brick wall. Enough Said.We were on the same side at the Leopold square which has some bars and restuarants so we could hear a little noise but this did not cause us any problems at all and we both had a sound night sleep.The wireless internet wasn't that good, unless you got it in the prime position, which we never really figured out where that was! You also need an access code to gain internet access which you need to phone reception for, this however only guarantees you access for 24hours as after this period we were being asked for it again, although we didnt bother to ring u again.You get use of the bathrobes and slippers which arent the most comfy material but if you do like them, you can buy them, ask at reception!The staff were very friendly and helpful, we got shown to the lifts and told where our room was, we were on the 2nd floor.

The hotel is is a great location in Sheffield, right by the wheel. We were planning on going on a night out but due to illness (not caused by anything in the hotel) we decided to stay in, but the bars and pubs were close by. The shops were also just a short walk away.

The hotel is in conjuction with Q Parks car park which offers people staying at the leopold discounted rates on car parks. We used this service. We found it tricky to find using the Sat Nav, but we got there eventually, its very high-tech and secure, so I wouldnt worry about leaving your car there at all. Leopold has reserved spaces for guests on the 7th floor, we arrived around 3pm and there were many spaces left. You give in your car ticket on checkout at the hotel and pay them for it, you then have all day to use the car park so can leave whatever time you wish. This car park is a short walk away from the hotel, around 5-10mins.

Overall, we did have a lovely stay at this hotel and would probably return again, its in a great location and you can get it at a great price.

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do not be fooled by its appearance

we were greeted by a very intrusive member of staff, who was very hard to understand. he said he would escort us to our rooms but when i said i wanted to take the stairs instead of the lift because I have motion sickness, he decided to leave me to find my own way! because of this I couldnt work out how to switch the lights on, so then had to find him and ask how as they are activated by keycard.then the bathroom tap was faulty, the sheets stink of bleach, 1 dressing gown was dirty, and there was no milk! I didnt sleep all night thanks to a generator next to my room, and for some crazy reason a member of staff decided to empty a room near us of all its cups, glasses, saucers etc very loudly with all lights on at 2.30am!!!! it was so bad i had to put a dressing gown along the bottom of the door! overall a very disapointing experience, they will not be seeing us again. do not be fooled by its grand appearance! a travel inn is a lot better.

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A 4 star hotel in the heart of Sheffield city centre

Despite being one of the largest cities in Britain until recently Sheffield was distinctly lacking in good quality centrally located hotels. We had a Novotel and a Hilton, which were nice but the other once grand central hotels like the Grosvenor and the hotel at Victoria Quays (now Holiday Inn) were beginning to show their age and had become drab and the sort of place that was best avoided. All of this has changed in the last three years however when the Victoria Quays was completely revamped and two brand new city centre hotels were built. One of these St Paul's occupies what was for a short time Sheffield's tallest "skyscraper" and the other, the Leopold claimed to be "Sheffield's first city centre boutique hotel".

The Leopold Hotel opened its doors to the public in the June of 2007 after much gossip and rumours. An impressive Grade 2 listed building that was located right in the heart of the city centre was empty, it was being ripped apart internally but nobody seemed to know what exactly it would be. Generations of locals had always known this building as the city's grammar school but in the more recent times that I recall it was a private school where the kids with posh parents got sent. Then finally the local press announced that the former school building on Leopold Street was going to be another hotel.

Sheffield has some fantastic examples of architecture and the Leopold stands in the shadow of the Town Hall, it backs onto the City Hall and is just a few short steps away from both Cathedrals (Anglican and Roman Catholic) and three different theatres (the Crucible, Lyceum and Montgomery). Of course St Paul's hotel can boast just as impressive a location but this is a modern building with a history that doesn't even date back a decade.

When the Leopold finally opened it had been shrouded in scaffolding and plastic sheeting for so long that I had almost forgotton how nice a building it was, but the renovated sandblasted exterior looked truly magnificent and I was itching to get inside and have a nosey around but what I needed was an excuse.

My first experience of the Leopold hotel was sampling the public bar which also gave me an excuse to look at the lobby area. The staff were all very smart with the men (and boys) in waistcoats and dickie bows whilst the women had smart dresses and Cheshire cat grins from ear to ear. All were dressed in red and black uniforms and looked sophisticated enough to force a second glance.

There is a courtyard to the rear of the hotel and I was impressed that this had been completely transformed. I suppose that it was once the school playground but now it has fancy paving, modern fountains and fashionable tables and chairs. Part of this courtyard which has become known as Leopold Square is owned by the hotel but there are café's and coffee shops around the other side of it. During the summer there were street entertainers, jugglers, acrobats and musicians. It was all very laid back when I visited for the first time and a bit of a shock to the system - Sheffield had never known anything like it but 18 months on it is just as impressive.

During the summer my friend's parents stayed at the Leopold and this was my chance to have a bit more of a snoop around. It is a 4 star hotel but is also as far as I can see quite reasonably priced. Everything still looks very new and it still even has that clean, crisp smell to it. I guess that it has benefited from the non smoking laws and you certainly won't find any cigarette burns in the carpet. All of the public areas that I saw looked very nice and very modern. There seemed to be lots of plants everywhere in fancy stainless steel pots and the lights on the ceilings had been made to resemble miniature chandeliers. Sadly I didn't manage to get into any of the bedrooms but from what I saw of the general condition of the hotel and the public areas, coupled with its location I certainly wouldn't hesitate in recommending this place to others. My friend's parents were quite impressed and said that they would definitely return.

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Ideal for a city break

We booked to stay at the Leopold Hotel, Sheffield through LateRooms.com and stayed there a Sunday in August 2008.

It was fairly difficult to find parking nearby, although that may be my poor directional skills!

Upon arrival the staff appeared friendly and eager to help. I had issues with my bag (the zip broke!) so I couldn't get my purse out for about 10 minutes, until i snapped it...Oops. Despite this, the lady at reception was patient and happy to joke along with us.

We were offered a late checkout at no extra charge as said they were quiet on the Monday. We had paid £70 for the room including breakfast, and we were given the option of breakfast in bed at no additional cost - fantastic!

The bar in the hotel bar very expensive £9 for a bottled lager (Corona I think) and a glass of white wine and a £5 tray charge applied to have drinks in your room. We worked around this by going to the pubs in the square behind the hotel, which was much nicer than staying in the room, as lovely as it was...

The room itself was very modern, nice TV, Ipod dock, AC. We were on the ground floor with a view of a lane and a wall, but I didnt book a room in a city centre to expect fantastic views!

Lovely complimentary toiletries, bottled mineral water was provided in the fridge, lots of teas/coffees/milks. there werebath robes and slippers and lots of fluffy white towels. the bes was one of the most comfortable i've slept in. 10/10

The hotel is in a brilliant location for shopping and nightife and would definitely return, although the skinflint in me wouldn't pay the full price.